Agreed that it's not really working. We do have an imbalance at the moment in terms of lots of forwards and central midfielders, either attacking or defensive. Atm we're playing two defensive central midfielders, two attacking midfielders and a striker in a midfield 5....as I put on the match thread, I would give this a go:
I'd give Biamou and Hiwula a go as a strike partnership. Then a midfield 4 with Ogogo but not Doyle-one of Bayliss or Andreu alongside him, perhaps one out wide until Jones is fit, Shipley on the left but fairly narrow to help out in the middle, Brown giving a bit of width outside him from full back, Grimmer doing the same other flank. Kinda a diamond lite:
--------------------Hiwula-------Biamou-------------------
--------------------------Andreu--------------------------
--------------Shipley ------------- -Bayliss--------------
---------------------------Ogogo--------------------------
-Brown----------Davies-------Willis -----Grimmer---
---------------------------Burge-------------------------------
I'd give Biamou and Hiwula a go as a strike partnership. Then a midfield 4 with Ogogo but not Doyle-one of Bayliss or Andreu alongside him, perhaps one out wide until Jones is fit, Shipley on the left but fairly narrow to help out in the middle, Brown giving a bit of width outside him from full back, Grimmer doing the same other flank. Kinda a diamond lite. Perhaps bring Kelly in away for either a forward or Andreu/Bayliss.
Anyone got the Diablo formation for L1 this season? Let MR know if so!2 games.
Any Football Manager player worth his own salt knows it takes at least 5-6 games to bed a new system.
We started the season with Beavon and McNulty up front last season in a 442 if memory serves correct. We weren't lucky that jodi got injured. How is that lucky?We were lucky last season jones got injured and we switched to 442
Didn't work in pre season either2 games.
Any Football Manager player worth his own salt knows it takes at least 5-6 games to bed a new system.
The bottom line is we’ve had to sell a goal scoring centre forward - have retained a 1 in 8 centre forward and signed another with no history of goals.
We may have done that Grendel but if even if you have a 1 in 2 striker they won’t score playing on the wing.
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Hopefullt he was joking.We started the season with Beavon and McNulty up front last season in a 442 if memory serves correct. We weren't lucky that jodi got injured. How is that lucky?
Usual well reasoned argumentI'd persist with 4-2-3-1 for at least 10 games but for me there are 4 key things that need tweaking within it.
1. Doyle can't play first halves. He's just too slow now (or at least everyone else in L1 is quicker and stronger) and he's chasing shadows off the ball. Don't think he's won a 50-50 in either first half against Scunthorpe or Wimbledon and it makes him redundant in that formation, where it's a key role to turn over possession and feed the 3 in front of him. Kelly needs to come in for him as soon as he's fully fit. Have a feeling it would make Ogogo look better too as he won' t be doing the running for 2.
2. We need to stop dropping Bayliss so deep when we're not in possession, we end up with 3 defensive midfielders. He's a great player but he's being asked to play 2 roles and it turns it into a 4-3-3. He needs to be play higher so we have another option to pass to when we do win the ball back, currently most of our attacks are either counter attacks or long balls and this should help reduce that.
3. Hiwula's starting position needs to be 5-10 yards inside. So that Mason has more space to go into and Hiwula isn't forced to cut inside - he's looked his most dangerous when straight down the middle
4. The whole team needs to play 10/15 yards higher up the pitch - O'Brien is always rooted to his line, the defence drop very deep because of it and that sucks the defensive midfielders back too. 4-2-3-1 is a formation for neat passing moves but we're so deep as a team that the gap between the 2 DMs and the forwards in the 3-1 are stretched, making it harder to play neat football.
I'd get that right for a run of games before we start switching formations. Off the ball we're set up like this so it's easy to see why we look so disjointed when we do get the ball:
View attachment 10341
I'd persist with 4-2-3-1 for at least 10 games but for me there are 4 key things that need tweaking within it.
1. Doyle can't play first halves. He's just too slow now (or at least everyone else in L1 is quicker and stronger) and he's chasing shadows off the ball. Don't think he's won a 50-50 in either first half against Scunthorpe or Wimbledon and it makes him redundant in that formation, where it's a key role to turn over possession and feed the 3 in front of him. Kelly needs to come in for him as soon as he's fully fit. Have a feeling it would make Ogogo look better too as he won' t be doing the running for 2.
2. We need to stop dropping Bayliss so deep when we're not in possession, we end up with 3 defensive midfielders. He's a great player but he's being asked to play 2 roles and it turns it into a 4-3-3. He needs to be play higher so we have another option to pass to when we do win the ball back, currently most of our attacks are either counter attacks or long balls and this should help reduce that.
3. Hiwula's starting position needs to be 5-10 yards inside. So that Mason has more space to go into and Hiwula isn't forced to cut inside - he's looked his most dangerous when straight down the middle
4. The whole team needs to play 10/15 yards higher up the pitch - O'Brien is always rooted to his line, the defence drop very deep because of it and that sucks the defensive midfielders back too. 4-2-3-1 is a formation for neat passing moves but we're so deep as a team that the gap between the 2 DMs and the forwards in the 3-1 are stretched, making it harder to play neat football.
I'd get that right for a run of games before we start switching formations. Off the ball we're set up like this so it's easy to see why we look so disjointed when we do get the ball:
View attachment 10341
Mcsheffrey did
Mcsheffrey did
Irish trialist Clickt O'EditWho's the new left back?
We became a team rather than a one horse outfit. I slightly dread his return. He is very undisciplinedWe started the season with Beavon and McNulty up front last season in a 442 if memory serves correct. We weren't lucky that jodi got injured. How is that lucky?
We became a team rather than a one horse outfit. I slightly dread his return. He is very undisciplined
We became a team rather than a one horse outfit. I slightly dread his return. He is very undisciplined
I'd add to that, the lack of runners running in and behind the central striker. That's what worked so well last season, McNulty would run off Biamou and break in behind, and vice versa. At the minute, Andreu, Bayliss and Hiwula all want to from deep in front of the back 4, yes they do some nice intricate passing at times but its too deep to hurt teams.I'd persist with 4-2-3-1 for at least 10 games but for me there are 4 key things that need tweaking within it.
1. Doyle can't play first halves. He's just too slow now (or at least everyone else in L1 is quicker and stronger) and he's chasing shadows off the ball. Don't think he's won a 50-50 in either first half against Scunthorpe or Wimbledon and it makes him redundant in that formation, where it's a key role to turn over possession and feed the 3 in front of him. Kelly needs to come in for him as soon as he's fully fit. Have a feeling it would make Ogogo look better too as he won' t be doing the running for 2.
2. We need to stop dropping Bayliss so deep when we're not in possession, we end up with 3 defensive midfielders. He's a great player but he's being asked to play 2 roles and it turns it into a 4-3-3. He needs to be play higher so we have another option to pass to when we do win the ball back, currently most of our attacks are either counter attacks or long balls and this should help reduce that.
3. Hiwula's starting position needs to be 5-10 yards inside. So that Mason has more space to go into and Hiwula isn't forced to cut inside - he's looked his most dangerous when straight down the middle
4. The whole team needs to play 10/15 yards higher up the pitch - O'Brien is always rooted to his line, the defence drop very deep because of it and that sucks the defensive midfielders back too. 4-2-3-1 is a formation for neat passing moves but we're so deep as a team that the gap between the 2 DMs and the forwards in the 3-1 are stretched, making it harder to play neat football.
I'd get that right for a run of games before we start switching formations. Off the ball we're set up like this so it's easy to see why we look so disjointed when we do get the ball:
View attachment 10341
In short, we have started this season totally unprepared, We’ve sold our best striker and not replaced him. We have gone out and bought a couple of players that can only be described as panic buys. And for some unbeknown reason we have offered a contract to JCH and a contract extension to Biamou who weren’t good enough for league 2 let alone league 1.
Our players don’t yet look fit enough having had an extended break (which is unforgivable) and MR dosnt seem to know which is his best 11 or which formation works best. By the time this squad is ready to perform, we may be so behind the pace setters that any chance of being competitive will be over.
We may only be 2 games into the season, but I only hope we aren’t a dozen games into it before we actually turn up and perform.